Two Men Set New Winter Record for Hiking NH 48 4,000 Footers

The NH 48 represents the 48 peaks in New Hampshire that are all over 4,000 feet.

Hiking all 48 mountains is an accomplishment on many New Englander's bucket lists, including mine.

But hiking in the White Mountains is difficult. One 4000-footer hike takes the average hiker all day between drive, set up, snacks, stops, and the hike itself. And that is in the summer.

Winter hikes of the NH 48 take much longer. Between the most basic struggle of snow and the worst weather in the United States (on Mount Washington), hiking all of the NH 48 4,000-footers in the winter is an extreme task.

Well, that task was not only completed, but it was crushed recently by two men who set the new record for hiking all 48 peaks in the winter in the fastest time ever recorded.

Philip Carcia and Andrew Soares set out on December 22, 2023. They completed 80,000 feet of elevation in just five days, 18 hours, and 58 minutes, according to fastestknowntime.com, a website that tracks and verifies speed records from around the world.

Carcia and Soares went through snow, ice, freezing temperatures, and the shortest days of the year between December 22 and December 25. In order to hit all 48 peaks in under six days, they submitted multiple peaks in a day.

After completing the trek and earning the record, Carcia said in a Boston Globe article:

“You come out the other side and there’s a little bit of everything, but you’re mostly feeling small, in addition to that strange mixture of pride and also just intimidation because you know exactly what you went through out there...

You realize you are just a small, somewhat insignificant human being when measured up against the power of nature because those mountains are so big.”

 

One of the two record-holders actually beat his previous record to set the new one with his pal.

Soares set the record in 2019 by submitting all 48 peaks in the winter in six days and 21 hours. However, Carcia said Soares proposed a new route he believed could shave about a day, according to The Boston Globe.

“I wanted to be a part of the club. I wanted to have my name on that,” he said.

“They’re the kind of trail conditions where you literally can’t take your eyes off the trail. You have to be fully engaged out there or you’re gonna bust your ass,” Carcia said. In a Facebook post about the accomplishment, he said both men fell multiple times per day. “I’m genuinely surprised one of us didn’t end up paralyzed.”

Let's hear it for these incredible mountain men!